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Hi! In October 2010, I moved from San Francisco to Manhattan with my husband, daughter, and twin boys. Since then I've been busy teaching myself and my kids how to hail a cab, fly a kite in Central Park, and walk across the Brooklyn Bridge with style. And a few other things. I write about those other things here. Thanks for stopping by!
Email questions to sharonbeesley@gmail.com.

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5/16/13

NYC School Field Trips: This is How We Do It

that's one of Owen's teacher holding the giant blue backpack. it's filled with lunches. his other teacher is the fuzzy face bottom right. ha love them!

Instead of waiting around for a yellow bus to take students on field trips, many NYC public school children either walk or ride the subway to check out the city. What's more, Oscar and Owen's school goes on field trips about once a week. It's one of my favorite things about their school and a major reason why I'm sending Ella there next year. I joined Owen's class as they made their way to the Urban Farm in Battery Park a few weeks ago. I'm still recovering from it. It's no easy task taking 25+ kindergartners across Broadway (6 lanes), down multiply flights of stairs and into a subway. But these city kids do it with ease. God bless their teachers!

Battery Urban Farm is a one acre educational farm with over 80 varieties of organically-grown vegetables, fruits, flowers, grains, and plants. From April through November they welcome local teachers, parents, students and our downtown community to join us in planting, cultivating and harvesting fresh organic produce. Learn more about the Battery Urban Farm here.

isn't owen's class beautiful? love the diversity.

after planting seeds and eating lunch, the kids got to run around.

Owen took this picture. that's me in the background with sunglasses sitting around. i take my job as school chaperone very seriously.

20 comments:

i live in barcelona and here we used to have field trips using public transportation, mostly buses, too (sometimes, when we were really little, they would make all of us grab onto a rope, it's so funny to watch). but the metro? in nyc? with little kids? oh my!

I notice in this post there's more than the usual number of pictures of the back of children. Do you purposefully choose those pictures for security reasons? I am a preschool teacher and we tell our parents that they should not post pictures of other children, even on semi-private social media, without the other parents' permission.

Looks like Owen will be a photographer when he's older- his is a great picture! (As are yours). It's great that their school gets them out of the classroom- I'm a firm believer that getting out there is sometimes the best way to learn things. (I wouldn't be brave enough to take 25 kids on the subway though. Yeesh!) xx

great post. i have 4 and a half year old twin boys, not identical. i was wondering if you chose to have your boys in separate classes or did the school suggest it? i live in a very small village in belgium and the boys go to a VERY small school, and I do not even think it would be an option for them, bit how is it? have oscar and owen always been in different classes?

LOVE the Urban Farm! The spring curriculum for 1st grade at our school includes going here once a week. Hudson just loved it and I'm so glad to see you guys come from uptown. Yesterday I went on a field trip where we actually had to go on a stinky, hot, sweaty, bumpy school bus. It took us an hour to go 10 miles from school to Brooklyn Children's Museum. I thought I was a goner on the ride home, my stomach was a jumbly mess and three kids threw up. I boycott any future bus trips! The subway makes me happy and all the kids know how to ride it.

I teach at a NYC Public School in Bushwick and we take the school bus (it is free for public schools, unlike charters). Our students in pre-kindergarten go on at least two a week and in kindergarten we go on one a week. Unlike Success Academy, all students are welcome no matter if they have any disabilities or are English Language Learners. We also don't coach out students that don't fit to a particular mold or don't score 4s on the ELA and Math tests. I wouldn't rule out sending your child to a high-quality public school, most are better than Success Academy!

hey anon. you seem to have a great school! i would love to send my kids to your high-quality public school.

my daughter has been attending our zoned public school since kindergarten and my boys attended the same school for pre-k. for the past 3 years i've given my zoned school a real solid chance. i'm not happy with it for many reasons. i'm thrilled to have an option to send my kids to a quality school, regardless if it's charter or public. success academy has been the best thing that has happened to my family.

I work as a school nurse at several schools in San Francisco, and I have to go on field trips to meet the diabetic kids at lunch. It is so neat to see the way they get to the different places, sometimes city busses, sometimes yellow school bus, most of the time walking! I love these urban kids, they walk far!

Taking kids on a field trip really is a work out, especially urban field trippin'! My husband is a pre-school teacher so I have new appreciation for his gift with kids after the field trips I have done with my daughter's class this year. But it's all in fun.RW